The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

PasturesNew

I should just buy that PC shouldn't I.

I probably could do with a new keyboard too, this one's got no letters on it any more, they all rubbed off years ago. I think this keyboard is 15+ years old.

vivatifosi

You'll probably have to buy a new keyboard if yours doesn't have a USB connector. They are pretty cheap though.

Pyxis

vivatifosi wrote: »

You'll probably have to buy a new keyboard if yours doesn't have a USB connector. They are pretty cheap though.

Unless you get a wifi keyboard!

That's the only way I can use one with my iPad, which doesn't have USB ports.


I know nothing about PCs. I've never used one..... correction, I did have to use one when I did a day's workshop on using eBay about 10 years ago, and then I had to ask someone how to get into it, and what the left and right clicks were for! (Having only ever used a Mac!)

PasturesNew

This keyboard is USB. I've a two way splitter that comes out of the PC into the splitter box, then the splitter box provides two ports which I use for the mouse and keyboard.

I'd like cordless really ... since I moved the room round the PC's 1' further away and the keyboard and mouse are at the limits of their reach and so, often, quite tricky/awkward to use.

chris_m

PasturesNew wrote: »

He's lucky to have a wall ... most people up there just have a cardboard box in the road to live in (Monty Python).

Oi! That was Yorkshire, the wrong side of the Pennines.
:rotfl:

PasturesNew

Looking at system information, my current PC says it has/is:

Siemens Fujitsu Scenic E & XP Home. Bought ~2006 for £200.

Total physical memory: 768MB
Total virtual memory: 2GB
Page file size: 1.8GB

System type: X86-based
Processor: x86 Family 15 Model 4 Stepping 1 Genuine Intel ~2793MHz

HD is split into two virtual drives:
C: Capacity 26GB, Free space 6GB - where I keep system files and software/etc
Capacity 10GB, Free space 3GB - where I stick files/data

As a rule, once I've cached about 200MB of Internet files, I have to clear the browser cache as it grinds to a halt, which I do about 1-2x a day.

Then, about once a month, I run a full CCleaner to clear everything possible and then do a defrag. This all keeps it limping along.

PasturesNew

I have an Ext HDD, bought about 10 years ago.

I first used that to move a lot of big/old stuff over, then, over time, I've randomly dragged big files/whole directories over there.

For the last 7-8 years or so, each year I've created a new directory named by the year number - and then use that directory for newly created files.... which helps me to search for some things if I know it was this year or last year without having to pick dates in the "search" function.

Using the years it also means I can, more easily, randomly find large directories to drag over to the Ext HDD.

Some directories are perpetually on my HD though - eg I retain one called TaxReturns on the HD, with the years under that top level.

If I need space I'll sort files by size on my HD and spot large directories of files I'll probably not need again. I'll then drag those over to the Ext HDD, delete the files/folders on the PC and rename that directory with a suffix of MovedToExtHDD, so I can spot where any files I'm looking for might be on there.

It ... kind of works...

chris_m

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'll then drag those over to the Ext HDD, delete the files/folders on the PC and rename that directory with a suffix of MovedToExtHDD, so I can spot where any files I'm looking for might be on there.

Remember those awful times when we could only have file/folder names with a 8+3 character count? Some of the abbreviations I came up with to fit that limitation were incredibly obscure - now I can name files with an essay

It ... kind of works...

If it works for you, that's all that matters IMO

GDB2222

PasturesNew wrote: »

It just seems daft to me that I worked in IT since about 30 years ago, but, due to fast moving OSs and lack of cash for me to "update, buy new stuff, get gadgets" in the last 7-8 years I've had to stick with what I've got, so I'm so far beyond "what the man on the street has/uses" it's unbelievable!

Even my Office is 2003... which is another reason I've put off buying another PC as I'd lose Office.... entirely.

I use office 2003, still. You can almost certainly download the install disk**, and you can extract your current install key from the current installation. This tells you how:

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-find-product-keys-for-older-ms-office-versions-2625094

That's just the first page google found.

**or someone could email it to you.

PasturesNew

It's just taken 20 seconds for this page to load ... even though I did a defrag yesterday ... and 2 reboots this morning.

When I want to load a webpage, I sometimes sit and watch the status bar as it gives a multitude of slow moving background events occurring (connecting .. waiting for cache ... waiting for cache ... resolving host ... waiting for cache ... waiting for XYZ ... processing request ... waiting for site ... processing request ... resolving host ... waiting for cache ... waiting for ABC ... waiting for cache... waiting for all manner of adslot placements and analytics files and facebook ....)

And sometimes I just go and make a coffee

3 tabs is about the limit, but that's pushing it.

EDIT: I have this thread bookmarked. After I posted above I left the site and went to Google and the news. I then decided to return.

It took 60 seconds to load the thread from a bookmark.
I then clicked on the "last post" link and it took a further 30 seconds to load that.

It's dire.